Poor systems at Portsmouth hospital delayed ambulances and put lives at risk, says CQC

People involved in serious traffic crashes were put at risk because of delays in ambulances reaching them after being held up in queues outside a hospital’s emergency department, a report from the regulator the Care Quality Commission has found.

The CQC published a highly critical report on 9 June into urgent and emergency care at the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust’s Queen Alexandra Hospital.1 The commission made unannounced visits to the hospital in February and March to follow up on previous visits that had identified problems. The recent visits found that the emergency department …